~ The Power of Observation ~: Week 13

Trees
Trees are your best antiques. ~ Alexander Smith

He who plants a tree Plants a hope. ~Lucy Larcom, "Plant a Tree"

I waited weeks for this tree to "peak" last fall, it was the brightest red in our yard. It was hard to pick a shot for this week, I have so many of our trees. Marshville, NC ~ Brian Jones ~

I received this money tree as a gift for my birthday nearly 4 years ago. I normally am not so good at keeping plants alive but he arrived on my door step in the smaller pot to his right nearly 4 years ago and I've had to transfer him to bigger pots twice since. In fact I just transferred him to his bigger green pot last month. I think I've finally found my green thumb. I will always be super grateful to my dear friend for giving me this "love fern" and for allowing me to learn something new about me. :) ~ Cat Cruz ~

About a month ago I was able to visit Italy. Specifically I went to visit many of the sites in which my grandfather fought at during WWII. He was in a unit that is well known among the armed forces. These men were the beginnings of what is now called “Special Forces”. They were called the “First Special Service Force” and named “The Black Devils” by their German enemies. While there we went to visit the American cemetery which held 7800 men whom had gave the ultimate sacrifice from Sicily to Rome. The graves of these brave men were surrounded by these beautiful “Umbrella Pine Trees”.

The cross at the front of this photo is the grave of Eugene S. Bivins from California. He was a member of my grandfathers unit in the FSSF and lost his life on the push out from Anzio on their way to Rome. Rome was liberated a few days later on June 4th, 1944. The gratitude of many of the Italian people we met on our journey was overwhelming. Our Italian tour guide summed it up quite well saying something like this… “I don’t take you to these places to show you how glorious war is, I show you so that you can understand the sacrifice that was paid for our freedom. War is a horrible thing and I hope that one day we will no longer have it in our world.”
~ Eric Morgensen ~

This was taken with my iphone in Paso Robles, CA while I was on vacation about a month ago.

~ Kenna Hummer ~

Meet Mr.Arbutus and Mrs. Mossy - Nanaimo, B.C. (2 hour ferry ride from Vancouver City) - if it's one thing we have plenty of here on the island, it's gorgeous trees!

~ Kidest M.